Priyadarshan strikes again with his usual brand of slapstick melded with a schtick finale that could have come from the Bazmee stable. The film was touted as the coming together of the grand trio (Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, Suneil Shetty) of Hera Pheri – the last genuinely funny film that Priyan made. Of course instead of the understated Tabu, we saw the non-acting Katrina. The previews showed the superstars Akki and Katrina, and lavish songs in SIK and Welcome style – like Paisa Paisa, and Bamulaiza. There were “comic” scenes in SIK style with the dog biting Akki’s nose, peeing on him, and his tying his suit pants with a string. He and Suneil Shetty were poor working stiffs – just like in Hera Pheri. So what does the film serve up? Is it a worthy successor to Hera Pheri, or a funny ride like Welcome, or a crowd pleaser like SIK?
Unfortunately what Priyan serves up is a drab unfunny affair that is so messed up in the finale, it beats people rolling about in a house. The two friends Akshay and Suneil live off their rich girlfriends Katrina and Sameeera respectively. Akshay (Nitin) is chauffeur, servant, dog keeper for Archana Puran Singh, seen in the loudest avatar since Kirron Kher in Devdas. There is a crook in Paresh Rawal, his no good son is Chunky Pandey, there are hitmen masquerading as Chinamen (Asrani), unlikely assassins (Johnny Lever), there are fathers of both the girls looking for rich grooms, a drunk waiter (Rajpal Yadav in a wasted role), Neha Dhupia as a femme fatale who will do it for money or marriage, Shakti Kapoor as the aging lecher, and more and more and more.

Priyan knew that his aces in the hole were Akshay and Katrina so they were given maximum time in the previews and lavish songs. But every song in the film is one that is shoehorned in and a complete misfit, whether it be an abrupt introduction to the leads cavorting about in skimpy/dressy clothes, or a strange song in a casino with Neha Dhupia changing clothes in every stanza, or Bamulaiza that came out of nowhere, or even Paisa Paisa which was ditto. And then the rest of the time Akshay spent locked up in a cupboard, Katrina was there in six scenes and spoke 6 poorly articulated, awfully dubbed sentences. The rest of the time the multitude of cast members spent running into one room after another, hitting on the wrong person, giving money to the wrong person, or trying to bump off or arrest the wrong person. The confusion ended in a LOUD and stupid finale with the entire film washed down the drain.

Was anything funny in the film? I found Johnny Lever mostly very funny, his chloroforming scenes were well done. The attempt to kidnap Moolchandji (Archana Puran Singh’s dog) was mildly amusing, and Asrani and Akki had a few funny interactions. The rest of the film was quite unfunny. The songs were nothing to write home about, and no one except Paresh Rawal and Johnny Lever actually attempted to act. All in all this one was a waste of time, equivalent to a hemmer to the head – dhan dhan dhan, and has zero repeat value.